Jesuitical

In our final Jesuitical episode of 2017, we talk with my fellow Bronxite and award-winning journalist at The New York Times, David Gonzalez. Born and raised in the South Bronx to Puerto Rican immigrants, David was raised Catholic and attended Cardinal Hayes High School. Since the 1970s, he has been snapping pictures of people and places all around New York City. Currently, he co-edits the Times’ photography and video blog, Lens, and writes the Side Street column. In Side Street, he offers his “native New Yorker take on life off the beaten path in the five boroughs” in stories such as the Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How does an appointee in the Bill Clinton administration end up as a regular face of Fox News? It’s complicated. And what does a woman who has worked for decades in both politics and the media have to say about today’s sexual assault and harassment reckoning? A lot. This week we talk with Kirsten Powers, who you may recognize as a frequent on-air political analyst for CNN and an opinion writer for USA Today. We ask Kirsten whether she thinks we’ve reached a turning point in how we handle sexual misconduct in the workplace and beyond. Kirsten has also had a fascinating spiritual journey—from growing up in an Episcopal church in Alaska to straddling atheism and agnosticism in New York to becoming an evangelical Christian and, finally, entering the Catholic Church. We ask her how her faith has changed her approach to politics [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever gotten to know a priest only to discover that your conception of who he was was misguided? Too often priests have either the best or the worst assumed of them, and the result is that we, the laity, fail to see them as they are: human. Our guest this week is Chris Yates, a graduate of Loyola Marymount University who has created a fine-art coffee table book that seeks to show the Jesuits he had grown close to as they truly were. Emmaus: The Nature of the Way profiles several Jesuit priests with two portraits. One is a traditional headshot, the other is an informal composition of each Jesuit doing one of his hobbies: gardening, cooking, stand-up. It’s a beautiful book filled with over 100 portraits, some of which can be found on Yates’s site. Some housekeeping notes: you’ll notice that this week’s episode is a bit shorter than normal. A [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you think about the history of American Catholicism, images of Irish, Italian, German and Polish immigrant parishes probably come to mind. Think about the future of the U.S. church, and you’ve probably been told it’s Latino. But the story of the church, in the United States—past, present and future—is the story of black Catholics. On this week’s show we talk with Mary C. Curtis, an award-winning journalist and columnist at Roll Call, who recently wrote about the African-American Catholic experience for America. We ask her how the church can address the sin of racism, about the gifts black Catholics bring to the church and what she thinks about Pope Francis five years in. In Signs of the Times: An entrepreneurial cannabis company in Canada is selling a unique Advent calendar—and the Archdiocese of Washington holds its ground in the W [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we talk with Brian Larkin of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. Larkin is part of the Jesuit Basketball Spotlight. Founded in 2018, the J.B.S. is “a nationwide effort to capitalize on basketball games between Jesuit schools and, through those games, bring greater positive awareness and exposure to Jesuit education and its shared mission.” We talk about its creation, the Jesuit Player of the Week, greatest moments in Jesuit ball history and why he thinks Patrick Ewing should be canonized. No Signs of the Time this week because it’s Thanksgiving. We are super thankful for all of our listeners. As always, we appreciate your feedback, so email us at jesuitical@americamedia.org or follow us on Twitter at @jesuiticalshow. While you’re home eating turkey, tell your family about us an [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In an article that appeared in America over the summer, David Michael wrote: Hipsters are drawn to craft beer, obscure cheeses, organic farms, taxidermy and homemade preserves. They favor hand-dipped candles, old-fashioned stationery, Indian headdresses and the lamentable industrial-chic decor and exposed bricks that mark so many new restaurants and bars. Hipsters love the authentic, the craft and the obscure—which is exactly why Catholicism, in its practices and its aesthetic, is perfectly suited for them. Don’t believe me? Well, let Tommy Tighe, this week’s guest on Jesuitical, have his say. Tighe is the author of The Catholic Hipster Handbook: Rediscovering Cool Saints, Forgotten Prayers, and Other Weird bu [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last weekend Jesuitical took the show on the road for our first live recording at the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice in my hometown, Arlington, Va. The Teach-In is the country’s largest Catholic social justice gathering, which brings together students from Jesuit high schools and colleges and other members of the Ignatian family for three days of learning, prayer and advocacy. For this week’s interview, the tables were turned and your hosts were in the hot seat. Our audience had some extremely thoughtful questions for us: How has our faith changed since graduating from college? How do you convince teens who say they like God but not religion that the church has something to offer them? And, of course, if we could canonize one person, living or dead, Catholic or not, who would it be? And in Signs of the Times, Pope Francis makes an extra-long distance call to the International Space Station. Next, the “chainsaw nun” now has an IPA named in her honor [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we talk with celebrity nun, Sister Simone Campbell. Sister Simone is the leader of the Nuns on the Bus and executive director of the NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice. We talk balancing spirituality with fame, women religious, Catholic feminism, Paul Ryan and more.  In Signs of the Times, next week is Halloween, and some women religious warn: sexy nun costumes aren’t funny. Half of U.S. citizens don’t think you need to believe in God to be a good person—what exactly does it mean to be good? Have you heard of the Palmarian Catholic Church? Well, Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code and infamous for getting Catholicism wrong, has a new book out focusing on the creepy, Catholic sect (as a bonus, you guys get to hear about Zac’s schismatic church rabbit hole). Earlier this year, the Vatican released a survey in anticipation of next year’s Synod 2018 on Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment. The three of us took the survey ba [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“What does religion have to offer me?” It’s a question more people are asking as affiliation with organized religion continues to fall. Brandon Vogt thinks that Catholics should be ready with answers. “Today, as the world becomes more and more disinterested and disenchanted with religion, we need this positive approach [to being Catholic more] than a negative defense,” he says. Vogt, the guest on this week’s episode of Jesuitical, is the author of Why I am Catholic (And You Should Be Too). In it, Vogt recounts his conversion to Catholicism and the arguments that convinced him to enter the church. He also outlines arguments he thinks will convince those skeptical of what the Catholic Church teaches. Before the interview with Vogt, we summarize and discuss the top [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it mean to be a feminist? I wasn’t raised one—I barely even understood what the word meant growing up. It wasn’t until my 20s that I began to fully engage with feminist ideas and literature, from Betty Friedan to bell hooks to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. For me, feminism is intersectional, incorporating various aspects of my identity: being a woman of color, an immigrant, a writer, and a person of faith. This week, in a women’s only episode—Zac is on a much deserved vacation—Ashley and I discuss our personal relationships with the feminist label, Catholicism and more with this week’s guest, Claire Swinarski. A former FOCUS missionary, Claire is the host of “The Catholic Feminist Podcast.” And, in Signs of the Times, Pope Francis reaches [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices